New Skill Acquisition in Action

I’ll follow yesterday’s post on Scott Adam’s talking about the skill acquisition success formula with a photo taken today which rounds out a week of personally dipping into a few areas of new skill acquisition.

I don’t know how many cameras I’ve shot with since my film school days, but the number of film/video/digital cameras has to be 25+. Add still cameras to the mix and there could be another 15 or 20. If you’re going to work in production you have to embrace change. New skill acquisition is a part of the game.

I first learned to shoot using 35mm still photography cameras, and then 8mm & 16mm film motion cameras. But it’s been well over a 15 years since I’ve loaded any kind of film into a camera. (Though film is still a thing and I hope will continue for decades.) But the Blackmagic URSA Mini Pro that I put on my shoulder this morning reminded me form-wise of the Arri 16SR I used to shoot with in my L.A. days. (Made me romantic enough to go on ebay and see what an Arri 16SR is going for these days. A fully dressed SR II goes for about the amount of a stripped down Blackmagic Mini Pro.)

But this week it’s not only learning a new camera, but on Tuesday I had a meeting about what will be my first short animation project, on Wednesday had a request to do a vertical video, and this morning I finished edited my first square video meant to be used as bonus material for an online magazine and also be social media friendly (You Tube, Facebook, Instagram). And that video is the first project I shot professionally using the 240 frames per second mode on my iPhone7 plus.

And at 3AM this morning I was sending notes to an editor for updates on a commercial that will be playing in the Midwest starting tomorrow. I’m reminded of an old acting teacher I had (Arthur Mendoza) who used to tell his students, “You have to be able to flip your pancakes.” (Meaning the kind of roles you can play. Expand your skill set—be versatile. (Think Denzel Washington.)

And so it is with every area of production. I don’t know how many people I went to film school with back in the 80s are still working, but while there’s been the wide success of Emmy-winning director David Nutter (Game of Thrones, Band of Brothers) my guess is less than 10% are working on any kind of productions. Partly because of the competitive nature of the business*, but also because every wave of change has the potential to knock people out of the race.

People laughed when Amazon and Netflix said they were going to start making their own entertainment content. But no one is laughing now—except those who are watching Red Oaks and/or Master of None.

Keep acquiring new skills. Keep making yourself useful. And keep creating content with the opportunities that come your way. And if none come your way, make your own opportunities like every You Tuber out there is doing. No guarantee you’ll be a You Tube star making millions, but you could be on your way to making a living creating content.

*I’ve heard that everyone working in the Hollywood film industry would have to quit their jobs for there to be work for film school grads every year. Thankfully there are many other avenues for content creators to work and continue to acquire new skills. (In fact, there are way more creative opportunities now than when I was coming out of school.) More than one ASC cinematographer started out as a portrait photographer or working on corporate, industrial, and/or educational films).

P.S. There’s an indie feature currently being shot in Iowa with the Mini Pro camera so I think it’s going to come out of the gate strong this year. The camera is made by the Blackmagic Design which also makes DaVinci Resolve editing and color correction software.

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100 percent of the screenwriters who now have agents at one time didn’t have an agent. 100 percent of screenwriters who are now working at one time weren’t working. 100 percent of the screenwriters who have made money at screenwriting at one time time didn’t made a dime.” Michael Hauge Writing Screenplays that Sells page […]